Just a few moments before I found the artcle about news from Microspace under www.xprizenews.org.

In that article Microspace is quoted to have said that because of the situation of the XPRIZE competition they now will work to reach the orbit.

This is in line with Interorbital Systmes who have switched over Solaris X to its original design as second stage of their orbital vehicle - but they did it a month (or so) earlier.

It might be interesting to watch and observe what all the others will do.

There have been several proposals to award an orbital prize as next step (without notice wether there is any sponsor for that prize) - and now without such a prize a suborbital oriented team/company has switched over to orbital.

What might be the reasons to do so? First they don't see another godd goal. But what other reasons might be there? Not to waste investments? Encouragements by investors or sponsors? Has their design from the beginning had an orbital perspective? Might they have planned orbital because of the risk to loose the XPRIZE competition?

But what perhaps is much more interesting - would we have to miss them in the competitions for the XPRIZE CUP? I don't hope so but what's to be expected?

Will all the losing teams change to the orbit as goal? Or will - more interesting than the struggle for the orbit - some find some interesting and profitable based at suborbital flights? Will they detect something filling the gap or the difference between the orbit and all the parabolic and hyperbolic flights?

What might happen? To observe that might be more interesting than the orbit.

They'd need to learn to walk before they can run. Getting into orbit (and just as importantly, coming down in one piece) is orders of magnitudes harder than a 100km suborbital flight. And require oodles of more money to develop.

I suspect most of them will quietly fade away, since they seemed to be badly underfunded even for the suborbital X-prize.

The technology needed to go to orbit may be more difficult and more expensive, but unless you have a very easily modifiable ballistic rocket, the technology to get to orbit is also VASTLY different than that needed to reach 100KM...

I do agree that the majority will probably fade away for the time being at least, and begin to work on othr projects. Some might continue their suborbital projects, in hopes of using the designs forr tourism... Only time will tell us!

I really have been thinking of watching team by team. Some of them will keep on working suborbital I think.

Hello, eraurocktchick87,

what do you guess concerning ARCA? I suppose - and hope - they will continue their work and compete in the CUP. They don't have the ressources to try the orbit but they can help their country by suborbital tourism and spectacular success of an easterneuropean team.

Armadillo too seems to continue suborbital work as preperation for the orbit.

What about watching tema by team as in the past? Waht might Brian Feeney do if he has a successful launch?

I definitely think that ARCA is on the right track to be a serious competitor in the Cup. Testing is going really well for that team and progress seems to be pretty steadily moving forward.

From what I've heard and know, Armadillo will continue working on the Black Armadillo so it can be up and running for the Cup. Best of luck to all the teams, I can't wait to see what they come up with in the next year or two as the Cup gets closer

Oh, didnt see the last part there... I'm not quite sure what you mean by watching team by team, but the xprizenews.org site will continue coverage of progress made by all teams so everyone knows what to expect when the X Cup rolls around...

I have been speaking of "watching team by team" only because Handler has been considering the teams as a whole group. As if there were only very few differences between them. I think we should pay certain attention to their differences because they are containing their chances.

I never doubted your coverage - I've seen and ready only good articles posted by you showing that you love the topic, the activities and like the teams - and I never doubted the coverage by the xprizenews.org site.

You don't think that now that the Xprize is over a lot of the other competitors will just fade away never to be heard from again?

Yea i know they will have a cup, but really I think the push is off. I hope I'm wrong. But really what team has the financial backing that the Rutan group has? I think some of the groups may have to work together to produce a legitimate contender.

You are right - it might be good and advantegous to join forces for some of the groups. That I myself proposed earlier at the message board.

But the situation might cause the continuation of most of the construction and building processes due to the states and phases of those processes.

The investors of some teams might have invested too much money to waste it now. They can't get it back by selling something that is - first - something special and - second - only half way ready. They might calculate the advantages and disadvantages and get the result that losses will be less if the vehicle of the team they assist(ed) gets to be finished.

The sponsors might come to a similar view of the situation because they want their name to see fly and printed in the newspapers and journals.

But it's depending on the amount of money invested or sponsored. There will be certain amounts that have to be reached to claim for finishing a vehicle and there may be significant amounts of money already invested and not to get back without finishing.

I do think that many of them will continue to work toward getting to space because they are passionate about it. Plus they have already put in so much work...It's certainly encouraging looking at the teams' sites. The creativity spurred by the XPrize is amazing!

Many seem to be moving right along, over at Interorbital they are already selling tickets! It's exciting. I've had an interest in space all my life, but the XPrize flights really activated that interest which had been dormant for a while. I'm a marketing major, and I wish I could work for an aerospace company...I'm halfway through college and have been thinking what field I wanted to work in, now I know. I would love to work promoting something I'm passionate about.

I think some big marketing campaigns promoting space, and the aerospace companies involved (the XPrize has done a pretty good job so far!) could really get the interest generated by SpaceShipOne to stay around. Problem is, these are small companies, and big campaigns can cost money. With some creativity though, there is a lot you can do on a smaller scale to get the interest up and keep people excited.

To get even more funding, I think maybe the other teams might need to do some creative marketing strategies...this is a phenomenal thing they are all working toward, and if you can get more investors as excited as we are...hey, the sky's the limit! (This is why I want to work in promotion/marketing for the aerospace industry!)

Anyway...I think some will slow down their efforts now that the XPrize has been won, because they want to be sure of safety, which is great, but I guarantee they'll keep on working. But I think the key is....get more people with $$$ to believe in their cause.